Recently in Women's Cross Country Category

Iowa's Lauren Hardesty and Penn State's Caitlin Lane earned Big Ten Co-Runner of the Week honors, the conference office announced on Tuesday. Hardesty and Lane each took first place in their respective meets while helping their teams to first-place finishes.

The 2010 Big Ten women's cross country season begins this weekend, as eight of 11 conference teams compete in their first meets of the season on Friday. Seven teams welcome competitors to their home courses to open the season, while four teams open the season on the road.

Six Big Ten women's cross country teams appear in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association's (USTFCCCA) Preseason Coaches' Poll. Minnesota leads the way at No. 21, followed by Michigan State at No. 23, Penn State at No. 24, Wisconsin at No. 26, Michigan at No. 27 and Iowa at No. 29. Indiana and Ohio State are receiving votes in the poll.

The Big Ten is tied with the Big East for the most schools represented in the poll.

Six Big Ten student-athletes were selected to the 2009-10 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Teams, as chosen by the College Sports Information Directors of America, it was announced on Thursday morning.

Two conference athletes were named to the first team, including Illinois' Angela Bizzarri and Minnesota's Heather Dorniden. Gopher teammate Megan Duwell was selected to the second team and is joined by Penn State's Bridget Franek. Two other conference standouts were selected to the third team, including Michigan's Kaitlyn Peale and Indiana's Wendi Robinson.

The Big Ten Conference office announced on Wednesday the 2010 Medal of Honor winners. The award was established in 1914 when the Big Ten endowed a Medal of Honor to be given annually to a student in the graduating class of each university that demonstrated proficiency in scholarship and athletics. In 1982, the Medal of Honor was expanded to include a senior female athlete from each institution.

The Big Ten announced on Thursday the 22 student-athletes named Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners for the 2009-10 academic year. These individuals were chosen from a group of 276 student-athletes honored throughout the academic year who had displayed positive sportsmanship.

One member of each varsity sports team on every campus was chosen by his or her institution as a Sportsmanship Award honoree. From each university's list, two Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners were then selected. All of the Sportsmanship Award honorees have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, these student-athletes must be in good academic standing and must have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.

For a complete list of the 2010 Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners, click here.

Illinois' Angela Bizzarri was named as Division I's female cross country Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the 2009 season as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday. Bizzarri is also among 104 given All-Academic status for the previous cross country season for their efforts in the classroom and on nation's cross country courses.

The Big Ten boasted 15 representatives on the list to tie the Big 12 and Big East for the most among all Division I conferences.

Look here for a complete list of USTFCCCA 2009 Division I Women's Cross Country All-Academic Honorees.

Illinois senior Angela Bizzarri, was named the 2010 Honda Sports Award winner in cross country, designating her as the nation's top collegiate female athlete in that sport. The honor was based on the results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program, now in its 34th year. Bizzarri raced her way to the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championship title in a school record breaking six-kilometer time of 19:46.8 and was named the USTFCCCA National Cross Country Athlete of the Year.The eight-time All-American is now automatically nominated for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. READ MORE.

The Big Ten recognized today 705 fall sports stduent-athletes to the Academic All-Conference Team. The list of honored student-athletes features 60 men's and 113 women's cross country runners, 73 field hockey players, 193 football players, 60 men's and 143 women's soccer athletes and 63 volleyball players. To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, student-athletes must be letterwinners who are in at least their second academic year at their institution and carry a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher.